What's your carbon footprint?

Thanks, Carolyn! Coming from the Nature Conservancy, it's probably as accurate as these kind of things get. I'm glad you posted it - I'll have to go back later and try it. I've been thinking a lot lately about reducing my footprint and need to actually DO something.
 
Just FYI:

"If you switch to vegetarianism, you can shrink your carbon footprint by up to 1.5 tons of carbon dioxide a year, according to research by the University of Chicago. Trading a standard car for a hybrid cuts only about one ton--and isn't as tasty." [Time, April 9, 2007]

It certainly doesn't have to be either/or, and I don't think this should discourage driving a hybrid! I'm already a vegetarian, but I am also considering getting a hybrid.
 
Just be careful with a hybrid, I rented the Toyota Highlander Hybrid to test the gas mileage, it was horrible! I think it stated something like 33 miles per gallon and infact was somewhere around 16 to 20 miles per gallon, not any better than some Standard SUVs.

Our carbon footprint is 54, below average for a family of 4, but I guess there are still areas of improvement. Amazing that the worldwide average for a family of 4 is 22.

Carola
 
I did just myself and I was 8.6. Not bad, considering we rent and I can't do anything about our crazy non-existent insulation! :)
 
I did mine, and just for living in a detached house, I immediately got up to 27 points. My final score was one point below the national average. There's not much I can do to improve (beyound moving to an appartment!) because most of my consumption is just because I live in a house. (I do think I should get some extra points for using a push mower--ie: no electricity or gas--and growing some of my own veggies).

I've always heard that Americans use 4-7 times the amount of natural resources as those in developing countries. What's scary (for the Earth) is that more and more countries want to be like the US, with our typical consumption patterns, so the world average is bound to increase.
 
True Kathryn. I was kinda surprised that they didn't ask about plastic grocery bags. Now that I live in Germany, we don't use those anymore and I'm sure that makes a huge difference. Also, we don't have air conditioning so we don't use it. I think you should get LOTS more points from being a vegan (non support of the factory farm system that is one of the biggest contributor of green house gases).

Carolyn
 
Thanks for posting this Carolyn. It was really fun and interesting to do figure out, and it motivates me to do even more than I do already. I got a 45. There are somethings I just can't do anything about right now- I rent a mobile from my parents and have no say in applicances. I'd prefer to get EnergyStar, but so far haven't needed to replace anything.

I can, however, start unplugging things that don't get used often. And switch out all the light bulbs in the house. Right now more than half are energy-efficient, but not reason not to switch out the few stragglers. ;)

It's nice to hear about what other people are doing to improve our environment. :)
 
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